Lily of the Shadows

Chapter 16

It was dusk when the alarm was sounded. An eerie mist crept around the ground, or maybe it was the dust stirred up by the legions of horrors Lyrica had summoned. The first to come was a long serpentine creature, covered in fur from nose to tail, who had grown quite a lot on her journey there. Remnant shrieked, an unearthly ghastly wail, full of fury and vengeance and pain. And instantly, the gates of the palace opened, belching out dragons and wyverns and warriors of all sorts. And Xolt lead the charge, riding on his dragon. Sheena was a valiant beast, white as snow yet covered in blue leopard like spots and with deadly blue-green blades making up her wings. Sheena gracefully flew over the ranks of the enemy forces, cutting down any flying foes in the air with her bladed wings and tail, blood spewing everywhere. A volley of arrows shot from below, but they simply bounced off of Sheena's thick scaly hide. And Glaedyn and Clout covered Sheena's flank, helping the younger dragon get more leverage over the enemy. It wasn't long though, when a black griffon, dark as night, came out of nowhere and separated Xolt and Sheena from the main battle. The griffon was smaller and more agile than Sheena and able to get in some good hits, but Sheena used her wings to block most of its attacks, until the griffon came in too close and with one surgical strike, its head was flying off its shoulders and the body twitched midair, before falling to the lower ground of the battle just outside the palace gates. And then suddenly, Sheena was knocked off course by the giant monstrous furry head of Remnant. Sheena flapped her wings hard to try and counteract the force of the ground speeding towards her and shot up at the last second, angrily spewing shards of molten fluid that froze on contact. The enraged Hongalung recognized Xolt's cape from the scrap that had been presented to her only days ago, which made her even more intent in her pursuit. Xolt lifted his hands and lightning shot forth from the clouds, yet it wasn't enough to stun the massive serpentine monster, which grew even stronger as it fed on the terror of his allies. Sheena flew strong, but she barely escaped the hooked talon on the end of Remnant's tail, and as she flew to correct her position, she couldn't evade the monster's head speeding towards her, jaws wide open. With a loud snap, Remnant's jaws closed around Sheena's wing, and the force of the dragon pulling away and the monster pulling back ripped Sheena's wing clear off with a deafening sound of muscles and tendons tearing and bones being pulled out of their sockets. Sheena howled in shock and pain as she plunged downwards, curling herself and wrapping her one wing around her belly and back, trying to protect Xolt from the impending impact. Xolt screamed her name as she fell, yet she was rapidly losing consciousness from loss of blood. Xolt clung to her fur along her neck, the hard blades of her wing blocking his view, until there was an earth shattering crunch, and Sheena was suddenly still. Xolt was mostly unharmed, and he pushed her wing off of his body and leaped to her side, observing the landscape. She had crashed out of the main area of the battle, so she would have been safe, yet as Xolt looked at how her head was positioned, her neck folded in on itself, he could tell the fall was what really killed her. And he stood there by her face, watching the light drain from her eyes, and he was overcome with an unquenchable rage. He buried his face into her silvery mane of fur, wishing to feel the muscles rippling elegantly under her scales, wishing to feel her neck move from her breathing. He looked down at the gory carnage left from where her wing had been ripped off, still bleeding, and he then looked her in the face, knowing she was fighting with everything she had. Yet in the end it wasn't enough, and Sheena was no more. Xolt remembered that day, years ago. They were so young then, the day they met. She was but a fledgeling, and an orphan, and he had taken her in, cared for her. She was his closest friend, and now she was gone.

Manx had watched the battle from her infirmary window. She had seen Sheena fall, and she couldn't stand it anymore. She pulled the blankets off of herself, shakily got to her feet, Vaskin looking nervously into her eyes.

"I have to do something!" Manx screamed, enraged. She stepped forward and collapsed into tears into Vaskin's arms.

"No! Wait!" Vaskin exclaimed, as she pushed against him and tried to leave.